


Wishes

by LillithsGarden



Category: Big Eden (2000)
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Post-Canon, Romance, Sweet, early 2000s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27559192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LillithsGarden/pseuds/LillithsGarden
Summary: Pike can hardly believe that Henry has decided to stay in Big Eden, but he'll hold on to Henry and make him happy for as long as Henry will have him.
Relationships: Pike Dexter/Henry Hart
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Wishes

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this roughly four and a half years ago around July of 2016 in the midst of a love affair with the film. And a rare film it is. Funny, sweet, and not the tragic norm for most of the LGBTQ+ movies during the time instead ending with a happy ending. It's a wonderful movie, so I had to dust this story off and post it in the hope of bringing a smile to the face of other fans of this sweet and endearing Rom-Com.

Jim was the last to leave, with a pat on Pike’s shoulder and a “See you tomorrow, son.” Silence fell over the room in the moments after his leaving, stretching out across the store like constellations in the sky. 

“Did...did Mary-Margaret catch her plane ok?” asked Pike.

“Yeah. Yeah, her and the baby got on the plan fine.”

Pike’s legs twitched. This had been easier before the news Henry was leaving Big Eden. Not easy, because Pike’s heart raced like he was soaring above the clouds when he was around Henry. And the silence wasn’t exactly uncomfortable now. But it was just easier.

“I...I’m glad you stayed.”

Henry smiled and took one of Pike’s larger hands in his, and that soaring sensation was back. 

“I couldn’t go knowing I hadn’t given this a shot. That I was letting people down.”

He could feel the implied ‘That I was letting you down.’ behind Henry’s words, just as surely as if he had said it. Typical Henry. The other man had even been like that in high school, wanting to please people. To please Dean, if Pike was choosing to be honest with himself. To have that turned on him was… second only to finding out that Henry hadn’t left.

Unable to sit any longer, he rose and asked, “Cappuccino?” Going about the business of getting them each a cup so they could enjoy their coffee. When he turned around, coffee in hand, Henry had that soft look on his face. The look Pike remembers Henry giving Dean when they were teenagers, that he still gave Dean until recently. 

His heart sped up in his chest. His breath caught in his throat. 

Without really thinking of much else besides his need to be near Henry, Pike sat back down, handed Henry his coffee, and tangled the hands not holding their cups together. They weren’t there yet, wherever there was. But holding hands was a start. It felt as vital as being near Henry. Like the air.

*****

Pike juggled the presents and meal for two as he made his way to the door of Sam Hart’s house, shifting the first so he could knock on the door without dropping anything. 

Henry answered the door, a smile on his face. “Hey. I thought I told you not to drive here in the snow.”

Handing off the box of food and stamping snow-covered boots onto the welcome mat, Pike kept a hold of the two gifts he had brought. His arms and heart lighter for seeing him.

“You shouldn’t be alone during Christmas.” 

“You’ll get snowed in. It’s supposed to snow three feet tonight.”

As if to confirm what Henry was saying, the wind outside picked up and snow began to fall harder outside the kitchen windows. Pike shrugged. “I left Francis with Jim and Didi before coming over.”

He held the presents out to Henry. “I got you a couple of things. I hope you like them.”

Henry looked like he was going to cry. Had he done something wrong? Pike just hadn’t wanted him to be alone after Sam’s death, and being with Henry had sounded like heaven. Placing the presents down, Pike hugged Henry and held him as he cried.

After what felt like hours, hours Pike would’ve been glad to hold Henry whether the tears were his fault or not, Henry pulled away and wiped his eyes. 

“Sorry.” He sniffled. “It was just, I didn’t think there would be any presents this year. I normally spend tonight with Mary-Margaret and Sam and Grace normally sends a couple of gifts. But with the snow and…”

Pike drew Henry back into his arms for a second hug, and lightly kissed Harry's brown hair. “It’s ok. You can open the presents after we eat.”

Henry’s smile ghosted across Pike’s neck. “That sounds like a nice plan.”

*****

Pike could’ve been knocked over with a feather right now if anyone wanted to try it. The painting was beautiful and it was his, another Henry Hart original made for him. Well, the first one hadn’t been made for him specifically, but it felt like it sometimes. Henry had finished it not long after the meal they shared.

Not long before Henry had told Pike he was going back to New York either. He swallowed, thinking back on that time. Pike still didn’t know how he felt about Henry going back to clear out his apartment in the city this weekend. Henry had said that he would be back early Tuesday, but Pike couldn’t help feeling like Henry would get there and forget all about Big Eden and the man who loved him. 

As if to soothe Pike’s fears, Henry set the painting down on the table and slipped a hand into Pike’s. 

“I’m coming back, Pike. Pleiades wasn’t a going away present and neither is this one,” said Henry.

Pike would love to believe Henry. Part of him did believe Henry. But he still couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a bad idea. The last time Henry had left, Pike had waited eighteen years for him to come back. He’d wait forever this time if needed, but it would feel worse than last time and he just didn’t want it to happen. “I’ll come with you.”

“You don’t have to go. I know you don’t like crowds.” 

He doesn’t think Henry understands how grateful Pike was to not hear the word no. The gentle reassurance that he didn’t have to do anything he didn’t want warmed Pike from the inside out.

“I have to make some calls. Get a ticket and someone to watch the store, but I want to go.” 

Henry was really going to New York this time and Pike wasn’t letting him go without a fight, even if it did mean going to New York himself. That’s what love was. Stepping back when you needed to and letting the other person shine. Stepping up and making sure they knew you were there, that you loved them, and would support them. Sacrifices that didn’t seem nearly as much like hardships as they should be. Small as a simple gesture, and big as the mountains.

Pike had loved Henry Hart since he was seventeen years old and it had taken him until he was thirty-six to get a chance to confess that love. He wasn’t letting it go.

*****

Smiling down at Henry, who was slouched against him and snoring softly, Pike yawned. Neither of them had gotten anywhere near enough sleep last night. Maybe they should have changed their flight to later. At this rate, he would have to get Jim to watch the store while he and Henry got some more sleep in the back.

“How was the trip?” asked Dean.

New York had definitely been an experience. Crowded and cramped with patches of green, giving of the feeling of always and never being alone at the same time. And the people who both cared less and more than anyone in Big Eden ever would about what went on in his and Henry’s bedroom. Pike doesn’t think he ever wants to relive it if he can help it, but something inside him was glad he went. That he got a chance to see what had kept Henry away for eighteen years. 

“Good, Dean. Thanks.” 

“Everything taken care of?”

Pike looked at Dean out of the corner of his eye. He had nearly forgotten about the almost relationship between Henry and Dean, how hurt Henry had told Pike that Dean was when Henry told him he was going back to New York the first time. The worn look on Henry’s face when he came back from asking Dean to pick them up from the airport in Pike’s truck. 

He supposed that was a good thing. It meant that he wasn’t worried when Dean and Henry were around each other anymore. But that didn’t mean that Dean knew Pike wasn’t worried and he knew how much Henry valued Dean’s friendship. He’d always known.

Pike closed his eyes and stifled another yawn. “Yes. The rest of his stuff should be arriving in the next week.”

He turned to Dean, slipping his arm around Henry so he wouldn’t tip over. “Henry and I would appreciate the help getting it into Sam’s place.”

Dean’s face broke out into a smile. “I would like that. Just give me a call closer to the time his stuff is supposed to get here.” 

“I will.” Pike shifted and placed a brief kiss on Henry’s head. He’d gone to New York for Henry and buried the hatchet with Dean for him. What would happen next, Pike didn’t know. But he did know that being with Henry was well worth it.

*****

Pike sighed. Somehow Henry had roped him into going to the Easter picnic and they wouldn’t be able to get away for hours. 

Grace patted him on the arm. “It’s good to see you out and about, Pike. I’m glad Henry is bringing you out of your shell more.”

“Thanks, Grace.” he said. Grace walked off to chat with the widow Thayer. Pike didn’t think he needed to come out of his shell. He was fine the way he was. But being here with Pike, able to scan the crowd while mixing with the rest of the people in the town, was obviously something Henry enjoyed from the smile on his face every time he looked at where Pike stood. Henry broke off from Dean and the boys, walking back over to Pike stood.

“I hope Grace isn’t bothering you,” said Henry. 

“No.” Pike stood watching the crowd and enjoying the warmth of Henry next to him. The day was cool and clear, perfect weather for what was going on. 

“She tell you she was happy to see you come out of your shell?”

“Yup.”

Henry sighed and Pike smiled. He knew that Henry didn’t think he had to come out of his shell, liked him just the way he was. Sure, he’d been roped into coming, but that didn’t mean that Pike was expected to go and talk to everyone. Talking to whoever came to talk to him was more than OK.

“I told her not to say that. I’ll talk to her about it.” 

Henry started to walk off and Pike grabbed his hand, pulling him back to where he had stood before. “I don’t mind it.”

They both knew that he did, but if it kept Henry standing next to him for a little while longer before he wandered off again to socialize, then Pike was perfectly fine saying it.


End file.
